


Jack's Plan

by mandykaysfic



Series: 40 fandoms in 40 days 2019 [5]
Category: Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild, Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Career, Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 15:51:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18285437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandykaysfic/pseuds/mandykaysfic
Summary: Jack takes the first step to her goal of owning a garage.





	Jack's Plan

"Splendiferous!" exclaimed Renata van Buren, disturbing the members of Lower VIB who were quietly engaged in reading letters from home.

"That sounds like good news," said Val, looking up from her brother Peter's lengthy epistle.

"Yes. Father and Mother have finally decided. I'll definitely be a Millie in a year's time. I've been so worried I'd be the only one of us not going to St Mildred's." She waved the pages of the letter in the air and grinned around at her friends.

Wanda returned the grin. "Excellent! I will be the first of my family to attend the Finishing branch of our school. My aunts both say they wish it had been thought of sooner. Although they would not have been able to attend," she finished softly.

Jack, sitting next to her, sympathetically pinched Wanda's arm. She had news of her own to share, but waited as first one of her friends spoke up and then another.

Both Sams, Jean, Barbara, Meg Walton and even Margaret Twiss were slated for St Mildred's. They talked eagerly of looking forward to interesting lectures and the Millie's pantomime.

"Of course, darlings, you all know I won't be there." The daughter of parents both of whom were famous actors, Jane was leaving at the end of the term to finish her education in a school for aspiring thespians.

"I won't be going either," said Jack, seizing the opportunity to break her own news. "I'll leaving at the end of term too." She waited until her friends' cries of astonishment and dismay died down before continuing proudly, "I've got a place at Fossil's Garage. 

" _The_ Fossil's Garage," she emphasised when nobody reacted. "It's owned by Petrova Fossil. You must have heard of her. She's only the greatest aviatrix since Amelia Earhart. And I'm to have flying lessons from her as well!" She jumped up from her chair, spread her arms and zoomed around the room as though she were ten years old instead of almost seventeen. 

 

"Don't you want to stay on and be Head Girl?" Wanda asked quietly as they readied themselves for bed. "You know Miss Annersley has you in mind."

"No, that will be your job. Besides, I've never wanted to be Head Girl. Now, Mechanic Prefect, if there was such a thing, would be the position for me. I like taking care of Ferry's car. I wish more of the staff owned cars."

"You'll have to send pictures. I can see you now, all covered in grease, waving a spanner in the air."

"I'll send some of me in the cockpit of a plane too," promised Jack. She would miss Wanda when she went back to England. "You'll have to come for a holiday before you become a Millie. By then I'll be able to fly you up among the clouds. It will be amazing."

*

Jack wiped her hands along the seam of her trousers; she wasn't used to feeling nervous. She'd argued against wearing a skirt to her first day on the job at Fossil's Garage. The navy trouser suit worn with a white shirt and scarlet tie was a compromise both she and her parents could live with. The uniform overalls were in the neat bag she'd placed next to a chair in the corner of the room. 

The photographs hanging on one wall claimed her attention. Of course Amelia Earhart was there, as was Harriet Quimby, the first woman to fly across the English Channel. There were photographs of racing car drivers as well. She clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle a squeal when she spotted Margaret Allan standing next to the Bentley known as _Old Mother Gun_. One day, Jack would compete in rallies around the world, where she too would race at speeds of more than one hundred and twenty miles an hour.

Lost in dreams, she almost didn't notice the picture of a young girl in short skirts balanced on her toes, _en pointe_ , Jack remember Felicity Maynard telling her. Idly, she wondered whether Felicity would continue to dance when she left school. A different girl with long fair hair was easily identified as Alice in Wonderland in the photograph next to the ballerina. They would be Petrova Fossil's sisters, realised Jack.

"You must be Jacynth Lambert." A dark haired woman entered the room and greeted Jack.

"I'm called Jack," replied Jack, shaking hands. This had to be Petrova Fossil, she thought.

"Jack it is. I'm Petrova Fossil. Welcome to my garage."

END


End file.
